What Could Have Been
by Desuke-Love
Summary: "Can we not... do this again Aaron? It's... too much." "You're wrong. It's not too much. It's not enough. It's not nearly enough," he breathed, closing the gap between them and pressing their lips together, at last, at long last. Because it couldn't end like this. For something to end, there needed to be a beginning. Hotch/Prentiss oneshot, spoilers for S7ep24


**Oh my God, she is writing, it's a bloody miracle!**

**Yeah, I just watched the season finale of Criminal Minds, and this idea just came into my head so I decided to write it lol. It's bittersweet. Very bittersweet.**

**Please then enjoy this oneshot, What Could Have Been.**

"I'm going to take the job."

Hotch smiled sadly at the woman in his arms.

"I see."

"Is that all?"

"What else do you want me to say Emily?"

"I don't know. That you'll miss me?" She looked up at him with sad eyes. "Is it selfish to want you to?"

"No."

The two continued to dance in silence.

"I already said goodbye to you once. I didn't think I'd have to do it again so soon."

"Aaron..."

"Do you think things could have been different?"

Emily sighed, resting her cheek against Hotch's neck. "I don't like to think about what could have been."

"I have."

"You have Beth."

Hotch glanced over at the woman, who was now dancing with Jack and laughing, unaware of the conversation her boyfriend was having.

"I do."

"But?"

"Beth's... not you," he admitted reluctantly.

"There was never a good time for us, huh? When I met you, you were married to Hayley. Then there was the divorce, and... I didn't want to be your rebound girl. Then Foyet. Then Doyle. And after I got back, I was trying to get my life back on track, and you found Beth."

"It's not too late to change the last part."

"Yes it is Aaron," Prentiss said regretfully. "I... don't belong here anymore. I'm taking the job in London. You won't leave the Bureau, uproot Jack from his life and his family. I wouldn't want you to."

"So it's over before it even began," Hotch stated, a bitter undertone to his voice.

"I guess so. Excuse me, I ... need to freshen up."

He watched her make her way into the house. He didn't want it to be over. Didn't want what to be over exactly? Nothing had ever begun; technically speaking, they had never even confessed to having feelings for one another. They both just... knew somehow. Like a silent link between them. A possibility of a something that kept getting put on hold because of the crap life threw at them. He looked over at Beth. Why was he with her? Had he given up on ever having something with Emily? Was he simply tired of being so lonely?

He was still lonely. Despite everything, the only time he felt as though he wasn't so alone was when Emily was near. But fate was cruel. Now he had lost her before he ever really had her.

No. It wasn't going to end like this. For something to end, there needed to be a beginning. Even if this was the shortest love story in history, he had to do something.

He went into the house and up the stairs. He saw Emily coming out of one of the bathrooms, wiping her eyes.

"Emily?"

She looked up. "Can we not... do this again Aaron? It's... too much."

Hotch walked over to her, standing close, so close that she could feel his warm breath on her face.

"You're wrong. It's not too much. It's not enough. It's not nearly enough," he breathed, closing the gap between them and pressing their lips together, at last, at long last. Emily kissed back fervently, wrapping her arms around Hotch's neck as he placed his hands on her hips and pulled her closer. She parted her lips and let his tongue slip into her mouth, tasting wine and something else, something distinctly his, something she wished she could taste every day, but knew that she wouldn't.

They took a few steps and suddenly Emily was fumbling with a door handle, and the two found themselves in a spare bedroom. Hotch locked the door behind them, reattached their lips, ran his hands through the silky strands of her hair. Before she knew it, Emily felt the bed beneath her and Aaron on top of her, and for a moment, she couldn't remember the rest of the world, because his lips were leaving soft trails along her jaw and down her neck and across her chest, and he was making short work of the zipper on her dress. He slid the garment off of her and threw it carelessly to the floor. She lay there, almost nude and realised that he was still fully dressed, and that wouldn't do at all, so she pushed his suit jacket off of his shoulders and yanked off his tie and worked away at buttons and belt buckles and zippers until he was as sparsely dressed as she was.

"Aaron," she breathed as said man left open mouthed kisses across her collarbone and used one hand to arch her back from the bed and the other to unhook her bra and throw it precariously in the direction that her dress had gone.

"You're beautiful," he told her softly, kissing her gently, but with just as much need as his hands slid up against the smooth skin of her waist to caress her breasts. Emily moaned, moving her hands up Aaron's arms and back and feeling the muscle there before tangling her fingers in his hair. Their kisses became more heated again, tongues dancing together and teeth grazing lips. It was desperate because they were both painfully aware that this wasn't just the first time, it would be the last time too.

"Aaron... I want you," Emily whispered against his lips.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. I want you to make love to me."

And those words stuck in Aaron's head, _make love to me_, because this would be his only chance to make love to this woman. So many years, so many wasted opportunities, and now here they were, with life on the brink of pushing them apart, but allowing them this one chance to consummate a love that never had the chance to blossom. As he removed the last few pieces of their clothing, he tried not to think about the fact that he would never get to do this again.

...

They didn't look at each other as they redressed. It was easier to ignore the pang of separation that way. Emily stood in front of the mirror and fixed her hair and smoothed down her dress, and Aaron came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered into her hair, "I love you Emily Prentiss." And Emily swallowed the lump in her throat and returned his words. The two of them made their way back outside and were almost surprised to find that time had, in fact, not stopped, but was going on without them, and they slipped easily back into the fold, Emily talking with Morgan with a fake smile plastered on her face, and Aaron returning to Beth with a fake smile plastered on _his _face, and neither of them could shake the painful reality of what was or the regret for what could have been.

**0.o Yeah, so the smex was not planned when I started this. The story just kinda decided that that was where it wanted to go, and the story answers to no man and goes where it wants or it just doesn't go at all, so yeah. I have NEVER written anything like this before, I'm so embarrassed Dx lol.**

**Feedback would be very much appreciated, cos like I said, I've never written anything like this before.**

**Thanks so much for reading! xxx **


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